Opportunities Knock Cubs Cold

Scoring Chances Go To Waste In Loss To Expos

Expos 5, Cubs 4

April 03, 2001|By Teddy Greenstein, Tribune staff reporter.

The game unfolded just as Bill Mueller might have envisioned it.

The new third baseman in town had lived up to his reputation by stealing two outs with terrific defensive plays. Now he stood at the plate with one out, Eric Young at third, the infield in and a chance for glory in the ninth.

After working the count to 2-2, Mueller rocketed Scott Strickland's fastball toward the first-base line.

"I was trying to put the ball in play hard," Mueller said, "trying to put it over the infield. If Lee wasn't so dang tall . . . "

Lee is Lee Stevens, Montreal's 6-foot-4-inch first baseman. When he reached in the air to snare Mueller's line drive, a potential thrilling Cubs victory turned into a nagging 5-4 defeat in 10 innings.

The Cubs had several chances to take the lead earlier in the game. And they blew another great one after Mueller's lineout. But it wasn't to be.

"It's frustrating," catcher Joe Girardi said. "Especially on the first day. It's a little more special than every other game."

The Expos put a two-out rally together in the 10th on back-to-back singles by Jose Vidro and Fernando Tatis. With Vidro at third, Vladimir Guerrero lined a one-hopper to short. Ricky Gutierrez lunged to his left and made the stop, but the ball fell out of his glove for a base hit.

"I was trying to come up with an outstanding play," Gutierrez said. "It was a little out of my reach."

Said Young: "It was a bullet. I was even surprised to see he got a glove on it. But he'll tell you that's a play he can make more times than not."

After Vidro scored to put the Expos ahead, the Cubs could not respond against Montreal closer Ugueth Urbina, for whom they had considered trading this spring. Urbina retired Gutierrez and Gary Matthews Jr. before facing a $23.5 million pinch-hitter named Todd Hundley.

Hundley had expected his first at-bat in a Cubs uniform to come three hours earlier, but manager Don Baylor opted to start Girardi behind the plate.

Now Hundley, just 20-for-102 (.196) as a pinch-hitter, was trying to out-think Urbina on a 3-2 pitch.

"I thought he was going to try to blow it by me," Hundley said. "But he pulled a nasty changeup out of his pocket and got me. When a guy can throw a 3-2 changeup that's around the strike zone, you tip your hat. I'll put it in the back of my mind and remember it next time."

What the 38,466 fans at Wrigley Field will remember from this game were the Cubs' blown opportunities. Matt Stairs couldn't get a runner over to third in the eighth. Pinch-hitter Augie Ojeda grounded out in the ninth with the bases loaded.

Baylor chose the switch-hitting Ojeda over Roosevelt Brown, even though Brown hit .352 last season to Ojeda's .221. Baylor said he didn't want Brown to have to face the left-handed Graeme Lloyd.

Baylor also could have used Brown in the sixth with two runners on, the game tied 4-4 and pitcher Jon Lieber coming to bat. But Baylor said he wanted Lieber to pitch the seventh and "if you start pinch-hitting in the sixth with a limited bench, you can run out of players quickly."

After striking out, Lieber pitched a 1-2-3 seventh. But the Cubs couldn't push another run across.